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(No Model.)

L H. 0.- MILLIGAN. BlIKl'JE'lQv No. 477,601. -IP-atelited June 21,1892..

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lUNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

HENRYC. MILLIGAN, OF SOUTI-I ORANGE,`NEW' JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO RUDOLPH VOLFF du CO., OF NEIY YORK, N. Y.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 477,601, dated June 2li, 1892. Application tiled February 6 1892. Serial No. 420,517. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY O. MILLIGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing' at South Orange, in the county of Essex, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more especially to that form of buckle much used for ladies belts, in which a pivotal member, usually having a serrated edge, is employed for clamping one end of' a belt or band against the cross-bar or body of the buckle. This clamping member usually carries a hooi or other means of connection to the other end of the belt. It is usual to ornament the body of the buckle more or less and so apply it to the belt that it will hide between it and the body of the wearer the pivotal clamping member and the said hooked connection to the other end of the belt. The result is ornamental but highly inconvenient, for in applying the belt the wearer is unable to adjust the buckle on the belt Without removing it from her person. It is customary for the wearer to shift the buckle to a position as near the end of the belt as she can guess is proper, and then to apply the belt to her waist and clasp 0r endeavor to clasp the hook of the buckle in the eye or loop on the other end of the belt. She usually inds her first guess incorrect and is obliged to remove the belt and expose the clamp on the under side before she can loosen the buckle and readj ust it on the belt. This operation is repeated until the wearer has the belt approximately fitted. The object of my invention is to do away at once with the whole difculty by making it possible to loosen -the buckle and shift it on the belt while the belt is in place on the wearers person. To this end I provide a projection on the clamping member or so form the latter that a part of it is exposed beyond or above the body of the buckle in reach of the wearer, who may thereby loosen the clamp, even though the belt is tight against the wearer-s waist.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a sectional view of my improved buckle shown detached from a belt and with the clamp open in position to receive a belt. Fig. II is an end View of the buckle with a portion of a belt clamped therein; and Fig. III is a perspective View of the inner side of the same, the clamp being loosened.

The main body l of the buckle may be solid or (as shown) perforate, and has a cross-bar or portion 2, parallel to which, under the body l, is pivoted the clamp 3 on ears 4. Usually the clamp is made of a bent piece of sheet metal having a serrated edge 5 and a hook 6, the rst to clamp the portion 7 of the belt against the under side of cross-bar 2 and the second to form a means of attachment to a loop or eye on the other end of the belt. This plate is bent around and soldered or otherwise fastened to a wire 8, whose projecting ends form the pivots,`whereby the clamp is carried in ears 4. This wire, in the-Login of my invention which I here illustrate, I nke longer than usual, and bend one end in such a manner that when the clamp is set to bind the belt in position, as shown in Fig. II, the handle or finger-piece 9 so provided will lie down against the wearer-s body, but accessi- Y ble to the hand of the wearer, who may there fore, without removingthe belt from her Waist, place her thumb or finger under the piece 9 and raise it to the position shown in Figs. I and III, thereby freeing the belt from the serrated edge of the clamp. The wearer can, with the clamp in this position, shift the buckle on the belt till the latter is tight enough,and then turn down the inger-pieee, thus fixing the buckle to the belt. The fmger-piece also aitords a convenient means of operating the clamp when the belt is on the person.

Vhile showing and specilically claiming the form of my invention herein illustrated, I desire it understood that the means employed for making the clamp capable of operation by the wearer maybe varied in many ways from that here shown without departing from my invention, broadly considered.

Having thus deseribed'my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

The combination of the main body formed with ears, the wire journaled in the ears, having a finger-piece located beyond the body, and a clamp secured to the wire, having a serrated edge and a hook, substantially as described.

HENRY O. MILLIGAN.

Witnesses EDWARD BRANDT, M. V. Brncoon.

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